Nocturnal Gull

Gallery: AvianPosted March 6, 2012290 views9 comments

The only nocturnal sea bird in the world - the Swallow-tailed Gull.

Creagrus furcatus

North Seymour Island, The Galapagos
January 2012
Canon 7D
Canon 300mm f4 w/ 1.4 TC
f 5/6
ISO 500
1/2500 s.

I <3 C&C! (Helps me improve

) Please view larger version. I never really know if I strike the right balance between noise reduction and sharpness. I should take an Adobe class one of these days. I've just learned LR and PS by feeling my way around. I suppose I'm not the only one... or have most of you taken training in post-processing software?

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 6, 2012 at 2:18 PM

Nice pose and great colours on ing ANY NR usually obliterates feather detail and it ends up looking like melted plastic. Sharp feather detail is the gosal in Avian images.
BG noise control is sometimes needed, though.
It looks as if you have applied just a little NR to the whole image, including the bird. It looks a tad "melted" but pretty minor.
I'd strongly urge PS classes. I'm self-taught, which is very dangerous.

If you can follow and learn from books, there are good ones available. What version of PS do you use?

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on March 6, 2012 at 3:46 PM

I agree with Sandy completely about the image and taking a class. I have just been learning on my own and it is a real trial. I think I will talk to a couple of my friends on taking a class together. Great image and a pretty gull, I have never seen one before so thanks for posting.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 6, 2012 at 4:27 PM

I like the image as posted. An interesting species. I like the colors and the setting.

At ISO 500 there should be no need for any NR IMO. The best advice for dealing with noise is to avoid creating it in the first place by not under exposing the image and not doing massive crops. But if you do need NR then follow Sandy's advice and limit it to the background only.

I've never had a class of any kind for photography or processing. But I read everything I can get my hands on, and there are excellent boks in the local library that will heklp a lot with photoshop.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on March 7, 2012 at 1:41 AM

Love this photo Rebecka! The pose, colors, focus and overall quality are simply stunning. You should be very proud of this shot.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 7, 2012 at 4:12 AM

Very nice portrait of this seemingly rare beauty Rebecka. I like it as posted too. Seems like there is good detail in the bird, and no noise in the background. More education never hurts. Sweet Photo!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on March 7, 2012 at 1:38 PM

Beautifully captured Rebecka. Excellent exposure.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on March 7, 2012 at 9:38 PM

Nice image. I like the dark feel. Really makes the orange eye ring and legs pop. You seem to have maintained a good bit of detail in the entire bird and the white just below the wing look really good. No training for me. Just hunt and peck.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on March 8, 2012 at 5:28 AM

Technically perfect with TC, very well sharp, nice composition and colour harmony.

For me there is no any bothering noise in larger version. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 9, 2012 at 12:44 AM

This looks very good to me Rebecka, I like the sidelighting here.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments